Capt. Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce

Chief surgeon of the 4077th MASH, he was one of the few people assigned to the unit for the entire run of the show; he lived in what was officially the Bachelor Officer Quarters, but almost always called "The Swamp". Hails from the fictional Crabapple Cove, Maine (Vermont in some early episodes) where his widowed father still lives.

The Ace: Generally considered the best all-around surgeon of the show. Occasionally Charles in later seasons would get the nod for his specialties, and even B.J. would show him up with a technique he didn't know. In one episode, he even conceded that BJ be the one to perform a tricky surgery as he had the most experience with it (i.e.: reading about it in a medical journal).

Actual Pacifist: Hates guns and violence in general. The amount of fights he participates in over eleven seasons can be counted on one hand. He even refused to fire back at North Korean soldiers when he and Col. Potter were pinned down in a ditch.

Hawkeye: Look, Colonel, I will treat their wounds, heal their wounds, bind their wounds, but I will notinflict their wounds!

Increasingly as the series progressed and Alan Alda assumed an ever-larger creative role.

Inverted in the transfer from novel to television; the original author had penned Hawkeye as a patriotic, pro-war, married man, based upon himself and upon seeing the changes, he disowned the movie and series altogether.

Author Filibuster: He's frequently used as a vehicle for these, especially in the later seasons.

Big Brother Instinct: ...and he does not take it well if anything happens to Radar ("Fallen Idol") or if someone (Frank) mistreats him.

Broken Ace: Had multiple mental breakdowns over the course of the series, and it's generally implied he takes the sufferings of war to heart much more than the other characters.

Hawkeye: I'm here to pull bodies out of a sausage grinder, if possible without going crazy. Period.

Bunny-Ears Lawyer: As mentioned on the Main Page, it was pretty much impossible to fire surgeons when the army was in such desperate need of them. Hawkeye knew this. And took advantage of it.

The Casanova: And at one point called out on it by a nurse he hadn't hit on. Because he hadn't hit on her.

Character Development: He grows increasingly more depressed and neurotic as the show progresses and the war begins to take its toll. On the other hand, he also shows his kinder, more compassionate side more often and treats the women he pursues with more respect.

Character Filibuster: He's occasionally prone to these, particularly when his righteous indignation is roused.

Character Tics: He has a frequent, and vaguely disgusting, habit of sniffing his food prior to eating it. B.J. even calls him out on it in one episode.

Chivalrous Pervert: He may be a womanizer but respects the nursing staff professionally, grows to respect and care deeply for Margaret, actually turn down a romance with a girl barely out of her teens in the USO episode (a pet the dog moment), and seems to have been humbled by his encounters with Kelly and Inga. He also won't seduce a nurse he thinks is married, though it turns out she just wears a ring to fend off attention she doesn't want.

Hawkeye: You're not married? Move over, lieutenant.

Claustrophobia: He suffers from it, as revealed in the "C*A*V*E" episode.

Determinator: He will always put caring for his patients over himself and not let anything slow him down be it illness, sleep deprivation, risk of capture or death, his own fears, or an Obstructive Bureaucrat.

Doesn't Like Guns: Or grenades, mines, anti-aircraft artillery, ammo dumps, tanks, the Korean War, or war in general. Basically he has nothing but hate for anything made specifically to kill another man. He is not hesitant to take this up with top brass or anyone supporting said war.

Hawkeye:(to Frank) I'll carry your books, I'll carry a torch, I'll carry a tune, I'll carry on, carry over, carry forward, Cary Grant, cash-and-carry, carry me back to Old Virginia, I'll even 'hari-kari' if you show me how, but I will not carry a gun.

In "The Consultant", he calls someone else out on it. Who then points out that Hawkeye keeps a still in his tent.

In "Fallen Idol" he gets called out on it himself by Radar and by Potter. Potter expresses disbelief that a surgeon of Hawkeye's skill and professionalism would do such a thing.

Dynamic Character: Hawkeye's personality gradually changed as the series went on, until he became almost a completely different person from who he was in the early episodes. He started out as a carefree, energetic, irreverent trickster; by the end, he was a troubled, insecure man prone to depression and brooding, having gone through several emotional breakdowns. While the Doylist explanation for this is simply that the tone of the series as a whole gradually shifted to be more sombre and serious, the progression is also fairly logical from a Watsonian perspective: from the very start it was made clear just how much Hawkeye hates the war, and how constant exposure to it drains him; it simply wore him away, season by season.

On the other hand, he always, always puts the patients first, and no matter what he will not let someone die on his watch if he can avoid it. He never crosses over into Stepford Smiler territory, but he almost always has a good bedside manner no matter how miserable he is.

Fatal Flaw: Pride, like most of the other surgeons. He needs to be good at his job, especially later in the series, if only to justify his being in Korea. A patient developing complications noticeably gets to him.

Heroic B.S.O.D. / Sanity Slippage: At least five major breakdowns in eleven seasons, each one worse than the last, culminating in the final episode where he's confined to a mental ward after losing it over a smothered infant. He's prone to smaller ones whenever he loses a patient.

Heroic Comedic Sociopath: To some extent, in the early seasons. He was never outright evil by any stretch, but he could certainly play very mean tricks on anyone who got in his way, through the truly cruel ones were reserved for people who had earned it in some way.

It's All About Me: If Hawkeye has a major flaw, it's this. He's extremely self-centered and only occasionally gets called out on it. He even hijacks giving a eulogy to tell everyone how he feels about them and how they make him feel.

Jerkass Façade: In "Mad Dogs and Servicemen", he adopts this as a form of shock therapy on a solider suffering from hysterical paralysis.

Legally Dead: The Army mistakenly declares him this in "The Late Captain Pierce".

Married to the Job: His first serious relationship ended because his girlfriend could tell that, really, he would always think of the patients first and her second, and she couldn't accept that. She reappears in one episode and, after they attempt to pick things up again, spells it out to him that this is why she left in the first place.

Military Maverick: An extreme version. The only way to make Hawkeye do something military is to point a gun at him or tell him there's a storm on the way.

Military Moonshiner: A rare officer example, and very much NOT a secret. Upon finding out, Colonel Potter made a suggestion or two on how to improve the product. Both Potter and Blake would occasionally come by to have some.

Motor Mouth: Occasionally, as when delivering a Character Filibuster. It also tends to crop up when he's stressed, and is pretty clearly a coping mechanism. It's especially severe in "Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen", when Hawkeye is confined to a mental ward.

My God, What Have I Done?: His reaction after Radar, who he'd urged to drive to Seoul and find a woman to bed, returns as one of a load of wounded.

New Old Flame: Carlye, his old girlfriend from surgical residency in Boston, who gets assigned to the 4077th as a nurse in "The More I See You".

Obfuscating Insanity: He tries to get Frank to approve him for R&R by employing this in "Bananas, Crackers and Nuts".

"I may care about things more than I ever have before, because there's so much more to care about here. On the other hand, I really don't give a shit what happens, 'cause it just doesn't matter anymore."

Not to mention his calling Lt. Park a "son of a bitch" as he's taking his prisoner away for presumed Jack Bauer-style interrogation in "Guerilla My Dreams". This was actually the first (un-bleeped) use of the b-word on U.S. network television.

Not exactly clear which curseword he was going to use, but in "Welcome to Korea" upon being confronted with a Korean man who was using his daughters to check for mines in a field, him asking Radar what the Korean translation of a particular word was blotted out by the explosion of a mine.

Pungeon Master: Cracking puns and witticisms is basically what he does, to the point that one late-series episode is his getting into a bet to refrain from doing so for 24 hours, something he finds almost physically painful. It's pretty clear that he makes jokes to deal with the stress of being in a warzone, since he tends to talk faster when the pressure is on.

Secular Hero: In one episode Father Mulcahy fondly refers to him as "that crazy agnostic".

Sensei for Scoundrels: Is this for Radar in at least one episode, and for more than one guest star in others.

Shell-Shocked Veteran: Shows a little of this from time to time. A lot of it in the episode where heavy fighting and many casualties results in double and triple shifts and severe sleep deprivation for the entire company.

The Trickster: Especially in the early seasons, Hawkeye would often pull complicated tricks (which would often grow more and more complex as the episode went on) to get something out of the Army, his friends, his enemies, or anyone else he happened to come across. Usually he used these for the greater good, trying to make life bearable for those affected by the war, but of course sometimes he'd just do it for entertainment. Later in the series this aspect of Hawkeye somewhat faded: he'd still sometimes play pranks on other characters (and they would play ones on him, as well), but these were usually for fun; the role Hawkeye's schemes played in solving major plot elements was greatly reduced.

Unperson: When Hawkeye is declared dead, an officer from HQ jokingly refers to him as one of these. Hawkeye is not amused, especially for the family of the soldier who really died.

Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: Not nearly to the same degree as in the novel and film, but while his heart is generally in the right place he's not exactly a stranger to egotism, self-righteousness, sexism, etc.

Yank the Dog's Chain: Gets this in the endings of "Bananas, Crackers and Nuts" and "Adam's Ribs" when incoming wounded ruining his (and Trapper)'s R&R plans and his finally getting his hands on the titular ribs, respectively.

Yiddish as a Second Language: He's been known to employ a Yiddish phrase now and again, though is at a loss for the term for "bedbug" note vonce when doing a crossword puzzle.

Capt. "Trapper" John Francis Xavier McIntyre

Played by: Wayne Rogers

Another surgeon, and the first of Hawkeye's sidekicks in the Swamp. Originally supposed to be equal to Hawkeye, he ended up as more of a sidekick, much to the dismay of the actor. This, combined with issues with Rogers' contract, resulted in Trapper being Put on a Bus (back stateside) after the third season. He was not made an unperson, though—jealousy of him worked into two later B.J. stories. The nickname, as related in the original novel and film, is from an incident in his past, when a woman he was having sex with claimed he had "trapped" her.

The Casanova: Didn't let his status as a married man stop him from chasing nurses as avidly as Hawkeye.

Character Development: He actually did get some, despite his relatively short time on the series. He starts out simple as The Lancer to Hawkeye before showing some shades of his War Is Hell philosophy when he almost kills a North Korean POW as well as getting drunk and punching out Hawkeye when he attempted to get back home to see his family. Some of these developments would later be mirrored by B.J.

Cool Shades: He briefly wears these while hungover in a couple of episodes.

Deadpan Snarker: He's arguably even more of one than Hawkeye, with much of his day-to-day dialogue being delivered in this manner.

Even the Guys Want Him: It was jokingly implied in an early episode that Hawkeye had seen guys taking peeks at him during calisthenics. Trapper didn't take it too well.

Of course, in real life, it was a "Take That!" against actor Wayne Rogers, who had acrimoniously left the show because he was fed up with the fact that Trapper was being treated as a sidekick instead of an equal. In addition, he was also greatly frustrated with a "morals clause" in his contract, which stated he could be suspended or fired if he did anything the producers found objectionable. When Rogers left, in fact, the producers actually sued him for breach of contract, but their case fell apart when it was discovered that Rogers didn't even sign the contract in the first place, due to the clause issue.

Tranquil Fury: Gets a moment of this in "Radar's Report", when he appears to consider murdering a wounded North Korean POW (who'd inadvertently caused the death of one of Trapper's patients while trying to escape from the O.R.) by pulling his IV. Only Hawkeye walking in on him and reminding him that "that's not what we're about" prevents him from following through on it.

Unintentionally Unsympathetic: In one episode, his talking about how much he misses his wife rings rather hollow considering he's been cheating on her with various nurses and appears not to feel even slightly bad about it.

Yank the Dog's Chain: "Check-Up" has him believing he's going to be sent home due to a stomach ulcer, and even getting a big going-away party from the camp...only to learn that this isn't the case.

In "Kim" he comes to love (and makes plans to adopt) the titular Korean boy, who's presumed to be an orphan. Then the kid's mother turns up.

Your Cheating Heart: And not sorry about it, although he also seems to genuinely miss his wife and daughters back home.

Lt. Col. Henry Braymore Blake

Played by: McLean Stevenson

The Mildly Military commanding officer of the 4077th for the show's first three seasons. Almost always seen with a fishing hat (with lures that made any salute attempt risk a Purple Heart), he was from Bloomington, Illinois. He tried his best to keep the camp running, although between Hawkeye, Trapper, Burns, Houlihan, and Radar... well, OK, Radar's goal was to keep the camp running, too.

The Alleged Boss: Generally a Type 1, with some Type 4 mixed in. Sometimes has to be reminded that he's actually Pierce and McIntyre's commanding officer.

Averted in the O.R. scenes, where he is very much in charge. A notable instance comes in "Sometimes You Hear the Bullet", when he orders Hawkeye to quit operating on his friend (who's already slipped away) and go help Trapper.

Also averted regarding Klinger's attempts to be considered mentally unstable - no matter what Klinger tried, Henry would always refuse to discharge him.

Amusing Injuries: In several episodes. Among them is him saluting and accidentally skewering himself on his hat's collection of assorted fishhooks, which actually looks rather painful. The most notable situation is when he kept getting injured while somebody tried to kill him and all sorts of calamities followed him in his wake in near-misses with death (you won't find that funny after the finale of Season 3), culminating in the outhouse exploding. Out walks Henry with the toilet seat adorned around his neck.

Henry: ........BOOM.

Ash Face: His decision to thump the Swamp's fireplace chimmney in search of contraband got him pelted and blanketed with soot, causing Hawkeye to collapse into a fit of uncontrollable, hysterical laughter.

Henry: All right, people, I'm gonna give it to you straight. Starting right here and now, we're all going to have to put our shoulders to the wheel, our noses to the grindstone. We've got to hunker down and pull together, all for one and one for all.

Father to His Men: Or more specifically to Radar, who actually regresses slightly after Henry is gone. He also had this with Hawkeye when Hawkeye's best friend from Crabapple Cove died in the O.R. and Hawkeye couldn't save him.

Hawkeye:*weeping* I haven't cried once since I came to this crummy place. Why am I crying for him? Why not any of these other kids?

Henry: If I had the answer to that, I'd be at the Mayo Clinic. Does this look like the Mayo Clinic to you? All I know is what they taught me in command school. There are certain rules about a war. Rule number one is young men die. And rule number two is doctors can't change rule number one.

First-Name Basis: He's routinely addressed in this manner by Hawkeye and Trapper, though for the most part he doesn't seem to mind.

Pointy-Haired Boss: A rare benevolent example. He means well, but he is completely out of his depth in trying to run a MASH unit, and everybody knows it.

Put on a Bus: At the end of Season 3, he gets his discharge orders and heads off to fly home to the States.

Bus Crash: It's revealed that his homebound plane was shot down with no survivors. One of the classic examples of the trope, to the point where it was formerly called "McLeaned" on this very wiki.

Reasonable Authority Figure: For a certain value of reasonable. Occasionally he would simply ignore Hawkeye and Trapper's requests because Majors Burns and Houlihan were giving him so much trouble. Other times he'd go to bat for them, even when unexpected. It caught Hawkeye off guard once.

Hawkeye: [upon hearing Blake stood up to Burns and Houlihan] How dare you do the right thing?

Retirony: Accumulates enough points to be discharged, but dies on the trip home when his plane is shot down.

Team Dad: He's a pretty inept administrative figure, but the whole camp loves him for his paternalistic "one of the guys" nature, especially since they know they could have ended up with someone who'd be more militaristic and far worse to bear.

Like Frank Burns, for example. (Who actually does become their commanding officer for an unspecified period of time between Henry's death and Potter's arrival.)

In the first season he has a regular girlfriend in Lt. Scorch, and there are hints of a couple other extramarital dalliances.

The "Henry in Love" episode from season 2 has him falling hard for a much younger woman he met on R&R in Tokyo, to the point where it actually jeopardizes his marriage...at least, until Radar puts things right.

Then in "Life with Father" he experiences the other side of this when he discovers his wife had a fling with an orthodontist in his absence. Although he seems more upset about the fact it was an orthodontist than anything else...

Maj. Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan (at one point also Penobscott)

Played by: Loretta Swit

A no-nonsense, by-the-book soldier, and head nurse. Another of the few people who saw the whole show through at the 4077th. The first seasons had her in an illicit relationship with Frank Burns; after meeting Donald Penobscott, she breaks off with him. Later she breaks off with Donald, too, and spends the rest of the show single.

All Women Are Prudes: Invoked, but Averted. Margaret is publically a prim, professional figure, but she's very passionate in private and, in the early series, it wouldn't be inaccurate to call her a slut with standards.

Alliterative Name: Her early nickname ("Hot Lips" Houlihan) sort of achieves this effect.

Battleaxe Nurse: Averted considering that even in her most hardassed period to coworkers in the early years; she is unquestionably professional and caring to the patients.

Brainless Beauty: Subverted. though in earlier seasons she tended to get rather silly alone with Frank, she was always responsible, took her job very seriously, and presented as intelligent and competent, even when she was treated on the show as a bit of a babe. Both the audience and her former antagonists grew to respect her over the course of the show.

Casual Kink: Hinted at in some of her interactions with Frank, and she is generally the dominant figure. A whip is mentioned in one or two episodes, and is even a present from her fiancee Penobscott early in their relationship.

Catch-Phrase: In the early seasons, she was frequently heard emitting a plaintive wail of "Oh, Frank!"

Character Development: Moved from being a one-joke, unlikable character to a nuanced, much more sympathetic one.

Covert Pervert: During the early seasons, part of the comedy of Margaret's character is her attempts to hide her extremely sexual nature and antics, only to fool absolutely nobody.

Defrosting Ice Queen: Goes from a real hardass to a much warmer and more human figure over the series.

Jokes about her ass (a part of her that seemed most noticeable by the males in the cast) seemed incredibly common in the series.

Gung Holier Than Thou: Margaret is very proud of the US Army and her diligence in trying to follow all the rules and regulations, and looks down on the draftees for their less than stellar devotion to what they consider a bunch of silly nonsense. This trait is eased back as part of her "softening up" progress during the series.

Happily Married: Sadly averted with her marriage to Donald Penobscott. It fell apart due to his mistreatment of her and the distance between their postings, but she kept trying to make it work until she found out he was cheating on her.

Irony: She's quite casual about the fact she's sleeping with a married man for the first four seasons of the show, and often gets angry or upset when she's forced to acknowledge that Frank's never going to divorce his wife for her. She finally dumps Frank to marry Donald, only to learn that he's cheating on her, a fact which contributes to her eventually divorcing him.

Lady Macbeth: She sort of acts like this in the early seasons, pushing Frank and/or teaming with him to go over Henry's head, and on a couple of occasions scheming with him to try and get Henry removed from his command, presumably replaced by Frank.

Military Brat: Her father is a legendary career Army soldier named "Howitzer" Al Houlihan. She spent her childhood moving around.

"When I was a little girl I thought a civilian was just someone who couldn't find his uniform!"

Starts as The Neidermeyer, to a lesser degree than Frank, but eases into ...

Moral Myopia: The situation detailed in Irony above; when she finds out about her husband's cheating, the term "Hell hath no fury" might be the best way to describe her reaction.

No Accounting for Taste: Her relationships with Frank and Donald. The former is a snivelling weasel of a man who she knows for a fact is cheating on his wife to be with her. The latter is a lying, miserly, manipulative jerk who is secretly cheating on her all the time. Scully is somewhat better, but she still dumps him because he doesn't respect her enough.

Pet the Dog: Had several of these has she started becoming nicer, especially in instances where she learned to be kinder to her nurses. As early as the second season, we saw her maternal instincts coaxed out by the Korean orphan Kim and her budding friendships with Hawkeye and Klinger in "Aid Station."

Had a literal one in one episode where she secretly adopted one of the local strays, feeding it scraps of food from the mess hall when no one was looking. Reveals a much more human side to her when she breaks down in tears at the news that the dog was run over by a truck and killed. This leads to another when she befriends a nurse she had berated earlier for being too emotional with the patients. (Ironically, the nurse in question didn't even bat an eye about the dog, while Margaret barely made it to her tent before she collapsed in tears).

Pom-Pom Girl: Takes on the role of cheerleader for her Battalion during the film's Big Game, even though she knows next to nothing about football.

Really Gets Around: In the early seasons, part of the comedy is the fact that Margaret is blatantly implied to have slept with, or be sleeping with, virtually every Major or higher ranked military official who catches her eye. To say nothing of the ongoing adulterous affair with Frank Burns. This aspect gets toned down as she becomes more human.

Her liaison with Hawkeye in "Comrades in Arms" could be seen as a more figurative version.

Sleeping Their Way to the Top: More than once other staff members make remarks suggesting that Margaret has slept around to help her career. And while it's never shown (or confirmed by "Hot Lips"), it is made clear she has had sexual relations with high ranking officers. However, even in her Hot Lips days it was suggested she only slept with high ranking officers because that's just the kind of men she likes, and that she hasn't used it to her advantage. One might remember who her father is. That said, her relationship with particular generals certainly made it easier to make things difficult for Henry.

Sugar and Ice Personality: Specifically noted by Hawkeye in one episode, where he describes Margaret to his father like this: "The major is a paradox. A woman of considerable passion, she is also a stickler for military correctness. I wouldn't mind making a grab for her myself, but I don't know how to do that and salute her at the same time."

Stepford Smiler: Much tougher and gritter than the usual example, but definitely one. Even in an early episode we see her smiling over her younger sister getting married, though it's clear that Margaret is bothered that she, herself, is not even engaged.

Team Mom: To her nurses, in a way. She's very hard on them but she's also quite protective of them.

Vitriolic Best Buds: To Hawkeye and B.J., with some underlying Belligerent Sexual Tension with the former. She never stops snarking at them, but eventually warms up enough to play practical jokes on them and even tickle-attacks Hawkeye in one episode.

The same thing happens in "Check-Up", when everyone thinks Trapper is going home and he's given a farewell party, she makes it very clear that she's always found him attractive.

Well Done, Daughter Girl: Shares a moment like this with her father at the end of the episode "Father's Day." Col. Potter gives her this a couple times, as well.

What Does She See in Him?: Margaret's passionate affection for Frank elicits a lot of puzzlement, In-Universe and out. It's implied it's because he is both as passionately supportive of the military and its regulations as she is (in theory, at least) and a relatively high-ranking military officer (rank being a definite turn-on for her). Later series episodes add the implication she also found Frank's tormented side and passionate displays of affection endearing, if not enough to make up for his many, many personality faults. Or his persistent status as a married man.

The camp's second-in-command, and a real Jerk Ass. The closest anyone came to enjoying his company in the series was Maj. Houlihan, with whom he had an illicit relationship—he has a wife and family back in his home of Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Abusive Parents: As he tells Trapper in one episode, "I'm from a very strict family. We weren't allowed to talk at meals. We couldn't even hum. Anybody who hummed got a punch in the throat."

During a phone call with his mother, he comments that his father only pretended to like him, a comment seemingly undisputed by his mother.

Birthday Episode: Both "For Want of a Boot" and "The Most Unforgettable Characters" have Frank's birthday as a subplot. Oddly enough, the former episode is set in the dead of winter while the latter takes place in June.

For a character like Frank, a birthday in the dead of winter, where most people are freezing cold and miserable, seems quite fitting.

Butt-Monkey: Squarely in the sights of anyone on the show with a rank of Captain.

Can't Hold His Liquor: Played with. He's normally a Teetotaler, and when he does drink he tends to get very drunk indeed. On the other hand, he seems to be able to imbibe without feeling it or reacting to the taste. Possibly he can hold his liquor, and just happens to drink enough to get good and plastered on the rare occasions that he lets his hair down.

The Neidermeyer: What he actually is. In about every field he was involved in, whether military or medical.

The season one episode "Major Fred C. Dobbs" has Henry Blake refer to him as "a fair, competent general surgeon", implying that Frank was not really a bad doctor but merely an inferior one when compared to Hawkeye and Trapper (and later B.J. and Winchester), but as time went by the writers just went more and more with the all-around bad doctor jokes. Granted, those were ubiquitous from the beginning, and was in fact a defining trait in the book. Henry's anger at Hawkeye and Trapper in that particular episode may have led him to give Frank more credit than he deserved. It could also be possible that he is a skilled surgeon, but his own ego causes him to make mistakes that make him seem worse than he is.

Control Freak: One of his defining traits is his being a stickler for discipline and order, especially military. It made his (fortunately brief) tenure as a base commander absolutely unbearable.

Dark and Troubled Past: His stories about his childhood are genuinely disturbing. Even his actor Larry Linville said there was something very dark and dangerous about Frank.

Dirty Coward: When he believes he's been captured by North Koreans pretending to be supply soldiers, he immediately tries to surrender and offer them all of the information he knows. Lucky for him, even the enemy couldn't stand him and told him to get out of the jeep and walk back to camp.

Embarrassing Nickname: "Ferret Face". Which, as he drunkenly confesses in one episode, was given to him by his own brother.note Truth in Television on that one: the nickname and the origin story for it are based on events in Larry Linville's childhood.

"Needle Nose" is also employed in a couple of episodes.

The Koreans in the area also have a nickname for him, though only heard in one episode:

Kim Chung Quoc: The Major had what we call, here in Korea, a real "fertilizer face".

Fatal Flaw: Greed. It's implied that he truly does love Margaret, but he's simply too greedy to give up his money by divorcing his wife (who has all the stocks and properties in her name).

First-Name Basis: Pretty much every other officer in camp routinely addresses him this way (save for Col. Potter, who's Regular Army enough to call him "Major" or "Burns" despite having no more respect for him than any of the others).

Flanderization: Particularly in the fifth season, which led to Linville leaving the show when his contract expired, as there was no further development possible for Burns. (And the fact that even Linville was starting to hate Frank.) While other characters got better, Frank got worse.

The Friend No One Likes: Frank is this to the entire 4077th beyond Margaret. Best seen in "Movie Tonight" when everybody in the main cast sings an ad-libbed lyric to "I Don't Want No More Of Army Life" and gets an amused/colorful reaction from the rest of the camp. After remaining oddly silent, suddenly, Frank chimes in long after the singing has stopped and everyone's attention is turned away, hastily belting out a lyric that is more of a thinly-veiled threat to Hawkeye and BJ out of nowhere after feeling too bashful to speak up, and the whole room goes as dead as a mortuary, while Frank shrinks back into his seat feeling totally small and put out and making it obvious that he knew this was doomed to happen.

Gung Holier Than Thou: Frank is constantly flaunting what a patriotic American he is and his love for the military. At the same time, he's also a total coward who lives in fear of actually getting hurt in the war, and he cheats on his taxes.

Hate Sink: Serves as one of these In-Universe. At one point, Hawkeye attacks a particularly obnoxious Frank whilst claiming that nobody will save him due to Frank being "the ten most hated men in this camp". Something of a Running Gag is that even Margaret, the one person in the camp who actually likes him, will often lose patience and call him out on being a despicable human being. Case in point, after he gets Section 8'ed out of the camp, whilst packing Frank's things, Margaret goes from talking about Frank's sweet, tender side to angrily calling him a fink for stealing her alarm clock.

Holier Than Thou: Though not so much as his movie counterpart, and in fact most of his ardor is channeled into patriotism rather than religion.

Hypochondria: Seen any time he's sick or injured. Especially in the episode where the unit had to take precautions due to a hepatitis scare.

Gave himself a Purple Heart because he was caught a shell fragment in his eye. No, not a mortar shell fragment, an egg shell fragment. From opening a hardboiled egg too hard.

It's All About Me: He never cares that effectiveness and morale plummet whenever he's in command (and it's never his fault anyway according to him), he feels he's where he deserves to be and nothing else matters.

Jerk Ass: Frank Burns is the camp's resident asshole. So much so that he was more of an enemy to the MASH populace than the war was, during the early seasons. The war was down the road, whilst Frank was right next door.

Jerk Ass Woobie: As much of a jerk as he is, you really are inclined to feel a bit sorry for him on occasion, such as during the telephone call scene in "Margaret's Engagement." Most of the time, his suffering at the hands of his tentmates is classic Comedic Sociopathy material. His wedding video increases the Woobiedom, with almost no guests, a bride who doesn't smile, and getting a fly strip stuck to his face while cutting the cake.

Lawful Stupid: When commanding, he discovered that the "M" in "M.A.S.H." stood for "mobile". So he naturally decided to move the entire camp 100 feet down the road... and then, the next day, moved it back.

Frank: The "M" stands for mobile!

Hawkeye: Also for meshuggah'.

Leader Wannabe: He often would covet being the CO, and would thus relish the times when (as 2nd in command) he would be temporarily put into command (his underlings, not so much).

Manchild: Frank often displays appallingly childish behavior for a man his age and in his position. Perhaps the most telling is in Colonel Potter's introductory episode; not only does Frank, upon retreating to Margaret's tent after hearing he's being replaced as Commanding Officer of the 4077, start shouting and flailing his limbs around in a temper tantrum befitting a toddler, he then complains about how the camp will miss him when he's gone and starts holding his breath like a toddler. Soon after, he actually runs away from home like a little kid, something that an incredulous Hawkeye calls Margaret out on.

Some of Frank's more disturbing moments arguably bump him up to Psychopathic Man Child, with his willingness to do stuff like steal a colonel's six-shooter to impress Margaret and then allow Radar to take the blame and potentially be given 15 years in the stockade for it.

Manly Tears: On hearing the news of Henry's death in "Abyssinia, Henry". A rare human moment for the character.

Larry Hama: Larry Linville was a sweet and charming guy, and one of the most popular people on the set. Quite the opposite of what he played.

Miles Gloriosus: Frank likes to make out that he's a tough soldier who's ready to fight the Red Menace bare-handed, but tends to fold like a tent anytime there's a hint of real danger.

Mistaken for Gay: The episode "The Chosen People" has a scene where Frank is on the phone with another Major from headquarters. After bitching about the slipshod way things are being run at the 4077th, Frank tells the other officer, "You're my kinda fella... Hey, maybe we can get together sometime? I have a feeling that we're very much alike." While we only see/hear Frank's side of the conversation, it's clear from his subsequent, horrified reaction that the guy propositioned him.

And, of course, Hawkeye and Trapper deliberately induce this in "The Ringbanger".

Momma's Boy: Frank's mother is probably the only one who truly loves him.

Significantly, he keeps a photograph of her next to his cot but none of his wife or kids. (He does mention he's got a picture of his wife in his wallet at one point, but considering that he's on the phone with his wife and trying to stop her from leaving him at the time, it's questionable whether that's actually true.)

My God, What Have I Done?: In the "O.R." episode, after discovering he was trying to remove a kidney from a patient who only had one.note A case of Critical Research Failure on the writers' part, as a man with one kidney would have been medically exempt from military service.Exempt, yes. However, a man who desperately wanted to volunteer could easily have covered this up during the induction medical exams during that era. See, for example, Ron Howard's character Private Wendell. Frank's surgical incompetence is usually Played for Laughs, but in this particular case he seems to be genuinely horrified at what he nearly did... and uncharacteristically grateful to Trapper for pointing it out to him in time.

Never My Fault: He gives Klinger a hard time for being out of uniform by wearing a red bandana while Klinger is delivering some necessary supplies a nurse asked for. Frank physically holds Klinger back, causes him to drop the supplies, and remarks, "See what you did?!"

He'll often verbally tear into his current nurse for a mistake he made or for something he omitted during surgery. At one point his words even cause Nurse Ginger to cry.

Only in It for the Money : Why he became a doctor, and why he never divorced his wife despite his affair with Houlihan. It's mentioned pretty frequently that his house and most of his investments are in her name.

Politically Incorrect Villain: Along with his other negative qualities, Frank is strongly prejudiced against Koreans (even South Korean allies), and foreigners in general. He's also a homophobe.

Frank: Oh, Margaret, you're my snug harbor. I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have you to sail into.

Throw the Dog a Bone: After having spent the entire fifth season being humiliated and abandoned, he gets promoted and given a plum posting at a stateside VA hospital.

Triage Tyrant: Sent in American soldiers ahead of Korean ones even though the Koreans are in much more critical state. However, this IS Truth in Television, as this was the actual standard triage procedure at genuine MASH units. It's the WAY he went about it, however, that put the "tyrant" in Triage Tyrant.

Your Cheating Heart: Cheats on his wife with Margaret Houlihan but never planned to actually divorce her. Also carried on an affair with his receptionist before coming to Korea, which it is implied he intends to renew upon his arrival (he is still in contact with her and making references to the hotel they would meet at in letters).

In yet another Hypocritical Humor example, he's also paranoid that his wife is cheating on him back home, to the point of hiring a detective to follow her... and then worrying that she's fooling around with him, prompting him to hire a second detective to shadow the first one. (An unmade episode reveals that she actually has been having an affair with a Congressman, although the canonicity of this is questionable.)

Cpl. Walter Eugene "Radar" O’Reilly

Played by: Gary Burghoff

The company clerk, and the epitome of Hyper-Competent Sidekicknote To the point where the trope was originally called The Radar on this very wiki.; Steve Jackson has actually used him and his ability to know things 'before the Colonel' as full-blown Psychic Powers in two of the company's roleplaying games. In fact, his nickname derives from announcing incoming helicopters before anyone else can. Early on, he's shown as pretty savvy and worldly, and occasionally even a little bit devious; later, the Ottumwa, Iowa native develops more into the lovably naïve Woobie we all know. Note that we didn't say he stopped being savvy and worldly... whether he simply opted to behave better for the new CO is up to the viewer.

Absentee Actor: Gary Burghoff renegotiated his contract to limit his appearances beginning in the fourth season, so there are actually quite a few episodes that have Radar "away on R&R".

And Starring: Burghoff was billed this way in the season 8 episodes up to and including "Good-Bye, Radar".

The Anticipator: More strongly in the early seasons, but Radar is defined by his ability to anticipate and preemptively prepare just about everything, including the Running Gag of always hearing choppers before anyone else does.

"I have a message...Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake's plane was shot down over the Sea of Japan. It spun in. There were no survivors."

It also falls to him to inform Trapper he's not going home in "Check-Up", and to tell Hawkeye that Trapper did go home (while Hawk was away on R&R) in "Welcome to Korea".

In "Change of Command" he has to tell Frank Burns that Potter's replacing him as CO, an assignment that fills him with such terror that Hawkeye and B.J. accompany him as backup. (To everyone's surprise, Frank accepts the news with calm professionalism...at least until he's alone with Margaret in her tent.)

In "Dear Sigmund" he composes a letter to the parents of an ambulance driver killed in a crash, which Potter then signs.

It usually falls on him to wake up a sleeping surgeon, typically because all Hell has broken loose (incoming wounded, patient getting worse, etc).

It's also not such a good idea to shoot the bugle out of his hands during morning assembly.

Making fun of his short stature is also a source of annoyance for him.

Big Eater: He is seen quite a few times carrying or devouring a huge tray full of food, and is the only person in camp who never complained about the quality of the food. Hawkeye at one point suggests ending the war by having Radar eat North Korea.

Klinger: How can you eat this slop?

Radar: My tongue is tone-deaf.

Broken Pedestal: "Fallen Idol" is all about Radar's disillusionment after learning Hawkeye, who Radar saw as a "Super Surgeon" who could do anything under any kind of pressure, was drunk on duty and had to leave the O.R. mid-operation to throw up, leaving Charles to finish for him. Radar was never told it was because Hawkeye was under tremendous guilt for getting Radar wounded in the first place.

Can't Hold His Liquor: Seeing that he doesn't drink often, he doesn't really have much of a tolerance. He once ended up getting hammered on barely two drinks.

"Here they come!" or "Choppers!" when sensing the arrival of incoming wounded preemptively.

Prone to saying "Gosh" or "Gee", childish and innocent words that reflect his youthful innocence.

There's also the fact that Radar often parrots what someone is going to say right as they're going to say it, which in itself happens so much it might as well be a catchphrase.

Characterization Marches On: As noted above, he's a lot more sly, devious and worldly in the early seasons, including stealing Colonel Blake's brandy and cigars, but he becomes more childlike and innocent after Colonel Potter joins the cast, losing his taste for smoking and drinking anything other than soft drinks.

Country Mouse: From a small town in Iowa. When interviewed, he initially doesn't see the point in saying hi to his mom because there was only one television set in his town.

Cute, but Cacophonic: Played with. Henry and Potter occasionally have trouble getting the staff to quiet down, only for Radar to instantly shut them all up by bellowing "QUIET!" Other times, he merely has to say it at a normal volume and everyone immediately quiets down.

Dreadful Musician: His bugling leaves a lot to be desired. And when he plays the bridal chorus on the piano during Margaret's wedding, he flubs a couple notes and winds up noodling a bit before Mulcahy gets him to stop.

He's also apparently the only one in camp that drinks it. In one episode from well after his departure, we learn that the Officer's Club still has a huge supply of the stuff since nobody else would touch it.

When it comes to the hard stuff, Radar's been known to drink Henry's brandy when he's off doing other things.

Flanderization: Grew increasingly more childlike and naive as the show went along. Until Pierce got mad at him for his foolishness, which is where Radar began to snap back and mature in indignant response, before finally outgrowing all this in his departure episode.

Hates Baths: Rarely showered, much to the merriment of Hawkeye and the other officers.

Height Angst: Radar is periodically embarrassed by or ashamed of his shortness, combined with others teasing him this makes him very angry.

Hiding the Handicap: Meta-example: Gary Burghoff has a congenital deformity of three fingers on his left hand, and would always hide his hand the best he could whenever possible on camera, usually by holding a clipboard or some other item related to Radar being a clerk.

Hyper-Competent Sidekick: Generally the main interaction between the unit and I-Corps. One episode is built entirely around Hawkeye and Trapper John trying to get an incubator, going all the way up to (and disrupting the press conference of) a brigadier general. In the denoument, Radar reveals he just traded for one.

Especially in the early seasons where Colonel Blake was "in charge," Radar pretty much ran the unit and pointed to the lines where Blake needed to sign. (One episode had Blake "jokingly" admitting that Radar actually ran things at a camp assembly. Absolutely nobody laughed.)

Later in the series, Col. Potter plainly and proudly said "Radar really runs the base" to his worried doctors when his departure to an indoc required Burns to be in charge.

Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Radar is called as such because he seems to be psychic, knowing when choppers are coming before they do and completing his superiors sentences when asked to do an order. The show makes it vague at whether Radar is psychic or just has extremely good hearing and knows rules, regulations and what his superiors will tell him by heart. Once, Potter managed to foul it up by giving him an order he didn't expect; Sherman was, to say the very least, pleased.

At one point, he appears to be a telepath....

Hawkeye: (writing home to his father) It's very quiet at the moment, Dad. The only man in sight is Radar O'Reilly, an amazing kid. I've never put much stock in E.S.P. but if it is possible for one person to read another person's mind Radar has that ability, the little fink.

Radar: (walking by that very moment) Is that a nice thing to say?

In another episode, Potter is composing a letter to his wife (which we hear via voiceover). At one point he tells her that his company clerk is "nice enough, but a little squirrelly". Radar, who's busy tidying up the desk right next to Potter, pauses in his work and glances at him.

In the original novel, he actually is. His girlfriend in the book is too.

Meaningful Name: Called Radar because of his ability to predict... well, just about everything, but approaching choppers in particular.

Misplaced Wildlife: He has a skunk. In Korea. Skunks are mostly New World creatures; the few that aren't (stink badgers) are from Indonesia and the Philippines.

Not Himself: In his final episode, the "Good-Bye Radar" two-parter in Season 8, he acts noticeably older — and angrier — than what we're used to. According to co-scripter Ken Levine, the shift in characterization was Gary Burghoff's idea, as was having him appear in most of the episode without a hat, revealing Burghoff's rapidly-receding hairline. (Burghoff had also lost a considerable amount of weight since the previous season, giving Radar much less of a youthful baby-faced look.) The idea was apparently to show that the character had finally left his childhood behind and was ready to leave the bosom of his 4077th "family". On top of that, his Uncle Ed just died, and the news hit him very, very hard. It's understandable that Radar would change so dramatically upon learning that one of the people he was closest to and grew up with would not be there when he went back home, a reverse of Henry's unfortunate fate.

The Other Darrin: Alone among the main TV cast, he's an aversion of this, as Gary Burghoff had played him in the movie as well.

Precision F-Strike: From the last person you'd expect. But in the episode where Potter's horse takes sick while he's away, the doctors have trouble taking the animal's ailment seriously until Radar lets loose with the dreaded H-bomb (followed by "H-E-double-toothpicks!") It later happens again with no humorous sentiment attached when he's on the receiving end of one from one high-strung Pierce, who accidentally sent him into the line of fire, feels bad about the fact Radar got wounded on his watch, and then tells him "To hell with all your Iowa naivete, and while we're at it, to hell with YOU!" and stop idolizing him. Radar fires back spectacularly by echoing his statement; "To hell with me?! To hell with YOU!!" Followed by a truly epiccomeback where Radar defends his small town upbringing and blasts Pierce for all the rotten things he's spouted.

Put on a Bus: He receives a hardship discharge so he can go home and help run his family's farm after the death of his Uncle Ed in Season 8. He gets a follow-up special all his very own titled W*A*L*T*E*R* and makes an appearance on After Mash. He also meets Hunnicut's wife and daughter and later sends the 4077th a letter in Season 10.

Rank Up: Gets promoted to Second Lieutenant in one episode, thanks to an administrator owing a poker debt to Hawkeye and BJ. It gets undone at the end of the episode, though.

Reality Ensues: When the 4077th receives a letter from him in Season 10, he makes them think all is going well back at home. It is not. Nobody was prepared for Uncle Ed's sudden death, who was helping the family barely scrape by at the time he died, and the farm is on the verge of collapse. This prompts the 4077th to band together and send Radar a large sum of money to help pull him and his family out of the hole.

The Scrounger: Part of his effectiveness as a clerk comes from his being good at this. He's better at the paperwork side, however.

Security Blanket: He had a teddy bear (likely to symbolize his childlike innocence) which he was always a little embarrassed about. However, in the episode where he left the cast (where his going-away party was cancelled due to an emergency rush of wounded shipped in and he had to leave without saying goodbye to anyone) he leaves it behind so they can remember him; Hawkeye and the others find it in the last scene. In the final episode, they place it in the time capsule, representing all the soldiers who came there as boys and left as men.

Shout-Out: Some people will note that the name "Radar" is a familiar holdover from their childhoods. That's because on Sesame Street, Baby Bear named his teddy bear "Radar", the show's obvious send-up to Radar and his own teddy.

Spider-Sense: Always knows when the choppers are in-coming before any annoucement over the PA is made.

He also tends to pick up the phone just before it rings, and in the early seasons had a habit of anticipating Col. Blake's orders before they were even given.

Hawkeye:[to Trapper, as Radar picks up and answers the phone] Did you hear a ring?

This had been a minor Running Gag through the series up until that point, with Hawkeye randomly commenting that Radar's tonsils would have to come out eventually.

Cpl. (later Sgt.) Maxwell Q. Klinger

Played by: Jamie Farr

A corpsman forever trying to get out of the Army on a psychiatric discharge, most notably by dressing in women's clothing; he cited a family history of this. Of his family, most are not English-speaking, and most are in his hometown of Toledo, Ohio. And yes, both the Toledo Mud Hens and Tony Packo's are real. (The Mud Hens at one point slaughtered the big-league Detroit Tigers in a pre-season game. It was a rebuilding year.)

Always Someone Better: After Radar goes home, Klinger takes over his job as company clerk. Things don't go so smoothly at first, with Klinger taking a lot of flak for not being able to perform to Radar's high standards. However, Potter later admits that it was wrong to expect Klinger to simply be Radar and not give him a chance to grow into the job.

Klinger eventually becomes a clerk on par with, if not even better than, Radar. He eventually earns a promotion to sergeant.

Becoming the Mask: At one point, he worries about his orientation, given that at one point he's looking at sexy catalog shots... and contemplating how the outfits would look on him. Out of character, fears of this being implied by Farr's dressing in drag on TV every week and the fact that his children were becoming old enough to watch their father on TV in same led to Farr lobbying to get the crossdressing diminished and nearly eliminated as the series wore on.

Breakout Character: Klinger had been intended as a one-time throwaway gag character (meant to reference Lenny Bruce and (apocryphal rumours of) his attempts to get out of World War II dressed as a WAC). Kinger proved so popular with the audience and the cast that they just kept writing him into episodes.

Bunny-Ears Lawyer: For all Klinger's discharge schemes, he never does them at the expense of his duties. That in turn explains why his antics are usually tolerated by the commanding officers even while they are never fooled.

Character Development: From Flat Character, add Hidden Depths. In fact, used to name the antitrope to Flanderization. Klinger started off as the guy bucking for a Section 8, then became the Lebanese jokester from Toledo who comes from a hard luck background. And when Radar departed and he became company clerk in Radar's stead, he also had a nightmare about what it would mean if he actually did run out on his friends at the Mash unit and completely stopped donning drag, deciding to ride out the war like the rest of them.

*Click* Hello: Pulled this on a Chinese POW who tried to assault him using a scalpel.

Klinger: Are you crazy? You wrecked a thirty-nine dollar dress! Your people will pay for this! *Pulls back the lever on his rifle and points the barrel not five inches from the POW's face.*

Crying Wolf: Because of all the escape and discharge-catching attempts, there are several times in the series when others think Klinger is faking an actual source of trouble. Most notably his emotional distress when his wife sends him a "Dear John" letter and his getting sick from a dose of the antimalarial Primaquine.

Determinator: When it comes to trying to get out of the Army, he is an absolute marvel of perseverance.

Averted in "The Tub" when Potter tells Klinger that if he can wear his heavy fur coat for 24 hours straight in the heat of a Korean summer, he really is crazy and deserves a Section 8. Klinger ends up folding with just one hour to go.

After he learns his wife has left him for someone else and wants a divorce, he goes looking for sympathy, but everyone thinks it's another con to get a Section 8. Ripping off part of his dress demonstrates he's not joking around this time.

Had this reaction after getting hassled over not living up to Radar's high standards immediately.

One episode shows him trying to decorate his living area with personal mementos, but Potter chastizes him for it. His quarters are the headquarters for the camp, so Potter demands a more professional look and no mementos at all. Klinger responds that everyone else gets to decorate their living areas with reminders of home and expressions of their identity, so he deserves the same freedom. In the end, they compromise and Klinger is allowed to set up some small items.

Klinger once became seriously ill, but everybody believed that Klinger was faking illness to get out of work. When a Jewish soldier develops symptoms identical to Klinger's, that soldier is believed without question, something that Klinger calls the medical staff on. Its eventually discovered that Klinger had developed hemolysis from taking the antimalarial Primaquine, and his life was in serious danger.note In real-life, Primaquine was discovered to lead to hemolytic anemia in patients with G6PD-deficency—for which people of African, Jewish, and Mediterranean descent are a high-risk group. At the time, only Africans were believed to be at risk for this reaction. This is actually lampshaded by the doctors before making the correct diagnosis, with one of them saying they would think it WAS hemolysis excpet that Klinger was caucasian.

Early Installment Weirdness: In his second appearance, Klinger was portrayed as having a Hair-Trigger Temper, to the point where he plans to threaten Frank Burns with a live grenade as revenge for Frank chiding him in postop (and refusing to allow him to wear a lucky red bandana his mother had given him). The incident was never mentioned again, and Klinger was generally portrayed as good-natured and easygoing from that point on. Well, he does have a Berserk Button when it comes to Sgt. Zale, specifically if Zale insults either his manhood or Toledo. In the fifth season episode "Hepatitis", when Hawkeye comes to check Klinger (who's in the kitchen) to see if he's showing any signs of the disease, Klinger brings up Zale insulting Toledo and starts getting worked up and throwing things around. He apologizes, but then gets worked up again with the same results. It gets to the point where Hawkeye has to pin Klinger against the wall just to keep him from doing it again.

Extreme Omnivore: Invoked in one of his more famous one-off attempts to get a Section 8, where Klinger methodically starts disassembling an Army jeep and ingesting the parts. Deconstructed in that not only does it fail to work, Klinger has to be operated on to remove the bolts, oil and windscreen wiper rubber that he ended up eating after they cause him severe stomach pain.

Failure Is the Only Option: Almost always, with his efforts to get out of Korea. Only two have a chance to work, and he nixes them. In one, he fakes a form to go home, to desert; after What Have I Done, he rushes to get the form rescinded—just as the brass are ready to approve it. In the other, the war ended. He stayed for his new wife.

In the Season 2 episode "Radar's Report," Sidney Freedman offers to put his discharge through - if Klinger signs a form stating that he is a transvestite and a homosexual. Klinger balks, especially when Sidney emphasizes that Klinger would have to keep wearing dresses for the rest of his life.

Gag Nose: And proud of it. He's been known to make light of it himself too, in one episode saying, "I came from a family of small-nosed folk, until one of us looked at a gypsy queen the wrong way. Ever since then, we've been growing 'em like this!"

Happily Married: Averted with his first marriage to Laverne Esposito; (presumably) played straight with his second marriage to Soon-Lee.

Hidden Depths: Klinger has no real love for the Army, but he always does what is expected him at the camp. He desperately wants out of Korea, but he's not going to endanger a patient because of it. And the whole reason he wants out is because, as he explains to Father Mulcahy in one early episode, "I was brought up to respect life, and that's impossible with all this killing."

Demonstrated with his tireless efforts as an orderly. No matter what scam he was pulling, he never once shirked his responsibilities. Even the time that he tried to convince everyone that he was crazy by acting as though he were home in Toledo, he still assisted in triage (under the guise of helping victims of a traffic accident, but still).

As mentioned above, he called out the officers for believing that he was faking an illness to get out of work. He was obviously very offended that they would think he would shirk his responsibilities.

He furiously shouted at and was on the verge of man handling Colonel Potter when the latter accused him of lying about another serviceman being mentally ill. The soldier in question was in fact disturbed, enough so to present a real danger to the camp.

Love at First Sight: Averted oh so hard with Soon-Lee. When they first meet, he is in charge of watching her after she is arrested. Their relationship builds over several episodes.

Nice Hat: He has a truly impressive and varied collection of millinery to go along with his dresses and other outfits. And, in later seasons, a Toledo Mud Hens cap.

Obfuscating Insanity: His entire M.O., as he seeks a Section 8 to get out of the Army. In one case, he really milks this trope by pretending his surroundings are Toledo, that he's a mere salesman and that he has no memory of the unit. It almost works, but Potter tricks him in the end.

Lt. (later Capt.) Francis John Patrick Mulcahy

A Catholic priest, Mulcahy is the 4077th's quietly devout company chaplain — and one of the few characters who managed to get a promotion during the course of the show.

Badass Preacher: Whether it is performing an tracheotomy under enemy fire, asking a frustrated and desperate Klinger to give him a grenade, or disarming a desperate AWOL soldier covering him at point blank range, Father Mulcahy knows no fear when called upon.

Beware the Nice Ones: He is one of the show's nicest characters (right alongside Radar), but when he gets angry, he is a force to be reckoned with. He scared the daylights out of a pair of patients (one Turkish, one Greek) who refused to stop fighting in Post-Op by telling them, "Love thy neighbor or I'll punch your lights out!"

Father Mulcahy: [Trapper, drunk, is sitting at the piano at the O Club] Is something bothering you, Trapper? Trapper: I'm not Catholic, Father. Father Mulcahy: Well, all in good time... Which is more that I can say about your piano playing.

Sometimes he just managed to get one in before the doctors.

Klinger: Stray bomb appears out of nowhere. Blows up a shipment of chipped beef. What do you call that? Father Mulcahy: A gift from heaven.

Determinator: The guy never stops. Helping out around the 4077th, hearing confessions, playing therapist to the wounded and the staff alike, working in his garden, helping out at the local orphanage, and he only ever admits to being tired two or three times in the entire series. Also apparently a theme in his sermons. When he's busy, he typically seems happier, because he's of more use. When virtually the entire 4077th was down with salmonella, he was thrilled.

Good Shepherd: Mulcahy is not a parody priest; he is devoted to his charges and the care of their souls. He extends this even to the Koreans in the vicinity, raising money to help orphanages in the area and ministering to both Korean civilians and Army personnel alike. He is also non-legalistic and ecumenical in his theological outlook (which is slightly ironic for a devout Catholic, and very unusual for the time periods in which the show was both set and shot in), to the point of being fascinated by—and even supportive of—local customs and spiritual beliefs. It seems that to him, what you have faith in isn't nearly so important as that you have faith.

Wondrous is man and mysterious the ways of God. And I would have no one shield my eyes from the glory of His works.

Taken to possibly the fullest extreme in the Season 8 episode "Life Time". BJ is watching a wounded soldier who is on the verge of death, as that soldier's aorta could save another wounded soldier in the OR (the one around which the episode is centred). After Mulcahy asks if the first soldier has passed on yet, BJ says they're moving the soldier to Pre-Op so the doctors can take the aorta immediately. Mulcahy starts up a jeep to go check the chopper for more blood (which is needed in the OR), then asks the Lord for the most unusual favor:

Dear God, I've never asked You for this before, and I don't know what You're going to think of me for asking now...but if You're going to take him anyway, please, take him quickly so we can save the other boy.

Gosh Dang It to Heck!: He is a man of the cloth, after all. So you know he's really miffed when, for instance, he tells the camp (in the "Blood Brothers" episode), "You're all a bunch of...stinkers!"

While conducting a bingo game, he runs out of Biblical names starting with G, and says "Gosh" rather than use His name.

The Heart: The man is the camp priest, after all. So, naturally, he does his best to be the most empathic and moral of them all.

Irish Priest: Well, seems to have a slight lilt in his voice sometimes. And is fond of roller derby.

The McCoy: Surprisingly, he tends to be the one bringing up the emotional or "morally right" approach to various crises.

My God, What Have I Done?: In the episode "Dear Sis", an unruly patient in Post-Op slugs Mulcahy; the good Father reacts by hitting the patient right back. Even though the patient did justify the use of force by punching first, Mulcahy feels wracked with guilt afterward, especially after the patient angrily suggests that Mulcahy went to seminary school at a boxing gym. (Turns out, Mulcahy actually taught boxing at the CYO.)

In "Blood Brothers", Mulcahy starts acting like a jerk when he finds out a visiting Cardinal will be there for his weekly sermon and wants everything to be perfect. When he finds out one of the patients in Post-Op has been diagnosed with leukemia (after offering to be a blood donor for a wounded comrade), he breaks down during his sermon and says he feels ashamed that he behaved so selfishly over trivial matters.

I'll miss hearing confession, but after listening to you people for so long, I think I've just about heard it all.

This also works as a stealth Tear Jerker since, by this time, the audience knows what the other characters don't: Mulcahy has lost his hearing.

Soldiers at the Rear: As an Army Chaplain, he is not allowed to fight, and most people understand that. One episode, "Mulcahy's War", is all about him making an unauthorized trip to the front precisely so he can better relate to what the hospital's patients are going through.

There Are No Therapists: This is averted, thanks to him. Both he and Sidney Freedman (an actual therapist) admit that he is more the camp's sounding board and confidant than he is their actual spiritual leader. Mulcahy even notices when Sidney himself needs some counseling. And when he needs one, he usually turns to Hawkeye, of all people. Multiple times throughout the series, he questions his own usefulness amongst the destruction, and notes that the stakes are higher with his line of work.

[to Hawkeye] When you lose a patient, he's out of his misery. When I lose a patient, he's lost his soul.

Capt. B.J. Hunnicutt

Played by: Mike Farrell

A competent surgeon from San Francisco, California. He's introduced as a clean-shaven, nice-guy replacement for Trapper John at the start of the fourth season. As the series goes on, he starts slipping in his sanity (although not quite as far as some); granted, in his very first episode, he has to deal with a farmer using his daughters as minesweepers and roadside surgery. Later he would grow a Seventies Porn Moustache, and start letting out another facet foreshadowed in a Mockumentary episode: a growing anger.

Berserk Button: He's one of the nicest character on the show, but he has his buttons.

Don't question his loyalty to his family. Aside from his rant in "Period of Adjustment", he threatens to "break every bone" in the body of a colonel who insinuated that he fathered a half-Korean child.

He's also very protective of Hawkeye. He frequently stands up for him verbally and once completely lost his cool, threatening to "break the neck" of a soldier who tried to throttle his friend.

Generally, he was the resident Nice Guy family man on the show but when he lost his temper and let his frustration out he could get violent. Namely by getting stinking drunk, smashing the still, and punching Hawkeye in the face. Later, after the confrontation with the soldier who tried to hurt Hawkeye, he turned to Father Mulcahy, who suggested using his speedbag for a bit. B.J. knocked the thing off its mounting with one hit.

He's also revealed to be an even better, more devious prankster than anyone else in camp.

The Big Guy: Mike Farrell is one seriously tall man (then again, so were Wayne Rogers, McLean Stevenson and David Ogden Stiers). A Running Gag is his shoe size - according to Sidney in "Dear Sigmund," he wears size fifteen. Most of the time, though, he falls into Gentle Giant territory. He's also the only officer besides Mulcahy to ever be shown voluntarily exercising in any way.

Break the Cutie: Gradually over the show's run. Doesn't quite complete, but he's waved goodbye to Hawkeye with his knuckles at least once.

Character Development: In the earlier episodes, B.J. tends to be idealistic, passionate, but a bit naive whereas Hawkeye was the more cynical of the two. By the end, Hawkeye would frequently be the passionate one trying to enact some kind of change with B.J. acting as the cynical voice of experience restraining him.

Cool Bike: He acquires one in "Blood and Guts" (although it's taken and subsequently wrecked by another character), and a different one in "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen". He's first seen on one in "The Yalu Brick Road," but it was presumably only borrowed long enough to get him and Hawkeye and their accidentally captured Chinese prisoner back to camp.

Fatal Flaw: As with the other surgeons, pride. Hawkeye even mentions that every time one of his patients develops complications, B.J. starts getting worked up.

Morality Chain: Tries to be this for Hawkeye in general, although he sometimes needs a little help too.

Nice Guy: He's just a generally sweet-tempered, easy-going, affable sort of fellow. Makes him an interesting foil to Hawkeye, since the latter is a lot more of a scheming, hysterical, somewhat self-righteous jerk by comparison.

Nice Shoes: Later in the series he started wearing a pair of Converse All-Star sneakers.

Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?: Hawkeye spends an entire episode trying to find out what "B.J." stands for. It turns out that's his actual name, given by his parents: Bea and Jay.

Your Cheating Heart: Cheats on his wife with a nurse jilted by her husband. Unlike Trapper and Blake and Frank, he feels genuinely awful about it. Is tempted in a later season by a reporter, but resists temptation.

Col. Sherman Tecumseh Potter

Played by: Harry Morgan

The 4077th's commander following Blake's departure. A Regular Army officer and veteran of two previous wars. His eventual hometown is Hannibal, Missouri, where his wife still lives and yet again waits for her husband to come back from war. 1/4 Cherokee as well ... and onetime member of The Cavalry. He even gets a horse, Sophie, during the series.

Cruelty to horses, or even borrowing Sophie without asking. Deliberately used by B.J. and Winchester to get rid of an unwanted companion. In one episode, distressed by the recent death of an old army buddy, he goes on a minor rant about he hates the fact that the main source of meat for South Koreans is horseflesh, which he finds barbaric.

Only two people ever got away with taking Sophie without permission: Klinger (who was in the midst of an Heroic B.S.O.D. after he thought he had reenlisted in the army) and an old Korean cavalry soldier who was just wanting one last ride before he died. Both times, they were forgiven immediately.

Never, ever put soldiers in danger for your own glory. He shuts down two of his old war buddies that get wounded because they took a line command in the name of promotion or glory - both times, it cost him their friendship. For that matter, he on one occasion got tough with a soldier who wanted to transfer to EOD to impress a couple of jerks in his unit.

If you value your safety, don't hurt anyone under his command, physically or emotionally. Even if you're related to them.

Establishing Character Moment: Minutes after he arrived in camp, Klinger presented himself in a dress and rattled off a dozen reasons he should be discharged. Potter utterly deflated him and ordered him to dress in uniform.

Later, after an episode of Hawkeye worrying this regular army man will be a far harsher taskmaster than Henry, Potter gets drunk with the gang and reveals he was just like Hawkeye in World War II. In fact, his Purple Heart injuries were actually from his still blowing up.

Gosh Darn It to Heck!: Played with. He wasn't above dropping a "damn" or "jackass", but he had a long list of alternative phrases for a particular curse: Buffalo-cookies, horse-hockey, bushwah, cattle-chips, road-apples, mule-fritters, etc.

Happily Married: He loves his wife who must be understanding and supportive. They have grown-up children and form a happy family.

Heroic B.S.O.D.: In "Pressure Points," he loses his confidence because Hawkeye had to operate on one of his patients while he was away. During a briefing about phosphorous-tipped bullets, Potter loses control and howls about when they're going to "stop this stupid war!" He has a slightly lesser case during the episode "Point of View" where he forgot to call his wife on their anniversary. In over forty years of marriage he had never failed to give her a call, no matter where he was.

Military Moonshiner: When stationed in Guam during World War II he had a still. He's experienced enough in moonshining that he gives Hawkeye some tips on how to improve his still.

Potter: When I was on Guam, I had a still. One night it blew up! [leans close to the boys] That's how I got my Purple Heart.

Not Himself: About once per season toward the end of the show's run, there'd be an episode in which the usually even-tempered Potter would take a sharp left turn into Grumpy Old Man territory, usually brought on by some personal or marital crisis.

Old Soldier: It plays a part in one episode when he finds out that the last of his old squad has passed away.

Papa Wolf: He fills in as a father to Radar, but the "Wolf" part comes in when Margaret's distant father comes to visit. When he sees her father's lack of tangible approval and Margaret's need for his respect, he absolutely lays into the man. And when someone in the 4077 is sending reports to I-Corps about how non-regulation the camp is, the pain in his voice when he tells Hawkeye and BJ about this is heartbreaking. He's absolutely livid when he finds out his son-in-law had an affair on a business trip.

He's career Army like Houlihan, and rather more authoritative and no-nonsense than his predecessor Blake, but still capable of relaxing certain regulations when needed. Including, with morale plummeting and a pair of corpsmen tasked to Kill It with Fire on some infected uniforms going overboard, giving in and instructing the camp to build "one regulation bon-type fire" as a way to blow off steam. Potter might be Regular Army, but he was enough of a Cool Old Guy that Hawkeye and B.J. saluted him in the final show.note Hawkeye only ever saluted to one other person in the show: Radar.

Team Dad: Takes Henry's place as this, but puts his own spin on it. Potter is a lot more professional than Blake was, but he still manages to be empathic and caring to his men as well as an effecient commander.

Up Through the Ranks: He started as an enlisted man in World War I.note He lied about his age to fight as well - he was 15 at the time... though in a later episode he states his age as 62, putting his birthdate in 1889 or 1890 and making him 27 at the time of the US entrance to WWI. By the time of the Korean War he's a colonel and surgeon.

You Know I'm Black, Right?: He's one-quarter Cherokee, and takes offense to Burns complaining about operating on a North Korean and phrasing it as Hawkeye getting cowboys and he Indians.

Your Cheating Heart: He admits to his unfaithful son-in-law that he was once unfaithful to his wife, and while she never found out, he knew and it was a worse punishment. However, while in Korea, he's never really tempted, and when Radar was worried he was going to have an affair with a visiting officer, he replied he just wanted to spend time with someone his own age for once, and it was strictly platonic. He was also in love with Doris Day, but she never knew about it.

Maj. Charles Emerson Winchester III

Played by: David Ogden Stiers

A (very) proud thoracic surgeon and pediatrician from Boston, he was initially stationed in Tokyo. Once Frank was Put on a Bus, the 4077th put in a call for a fourth surgeon. The call was taken by a colonel who Winchester was thoroughly trouncing at cribbage. One ill-timed boast later, and welcome to Uijeongbu.

Badass Boast: In his first episode, he gives one of these to Potter after learning he has to remain at the 4077th:

Charles: But, know this: You can cut me off from the civilized world, you can incarcerate me with two moronic cellmates, you can torture me with your thrice-daily swill, but you cannot break the spirit of a Winchester. My voice shall be heard from this wilderness, and I shall be delivered from this fetid and festering sewer. [*smirk*]

Bald of Awesome: He's a jerk and bald, but his Pet the Dog moments and awesome medical skills make him pretty cool.

Berserk Button: Don't make fun of stutterers. Chiefly because his dearest sister has a strong one. It's notable that she's completely unconcerned and unselfconscious about it in her audio letter. Also, as a Harvard grad, he does not like being mistaken for a Yalie. To a lesser degree, don't be gauche with food and drink. He seemed physically pained when Klinger thought cognac should be chased with beer and needed to be put in the fridge so it wouldn't spoil. He also took it personally when some black marketeers (who had just ripped him off at gunpoint and stolen his clothes and his jeep) were drinking red wine with stuffed capon. Finally, when Hawkeye was trying to get his goat, the only insult that really bothered him was "Your parents voted for FDR — four times!"

Blue Blood: He comes from a distinguished old-money family from Boston, basically the American version of the aristocracy.

Break the Haughty: Hawkeye and B.J. constantly tried to do this, but Hawkeye admitted he never was successful when writing his will:

"To Charles Emerson Winchester, though we may have wounded your pride, you never lost your dignity. I therefore bequeath to you the most dignified thing I own: my bathrobe. Purple is the color of royalty."

However, what did finally break him was the death of the Chinese musicians he'd been teaching to play Mozart in the final episode. After learning of it, he suffered a Heroic B.S.O.D. and smashed the record of the song he tried to teach them. Later in the episode, he told the camp during his farewell speech, "For me, music has always been a refuge from this miserable experience... now it will always be a reminder."

Can't Hold His Liquor: One episode involves him coming back from shore leave after becoming completely smashed at a party due to spiked punch and quickly becoming the life of it. (When asked how much he had, he grudgingly replies, "Two, three... bowls.")

Catch-Phrase: "Gentlemen." Used as his final line in the final episode.

Compressed Vice: He becomes addicted to amphetamines in "Dr. Winchester and Mr. Hyde".

Death Seeker: He once discovered two bullet holes in his cap, angled in such a way that if he hadn't tripped the moment the shooter fired, he'd have died. He becomes obsessed with trying to find out what death is like, interrogating soldiers who were resuscitated and joining front line aid stations to be in the line of fire.

Dr. Jerk: Jerk with a Heart of Gold type. That said, he had a reputation to maintain. At one point, he agreed to take Hawkeye's OD duty, so Hawkeye could get some leave, on one condition - that Hawkeye never told anybody that Winchester had done something nice. Mostly because then everyone would start asking him for favors. Overjoyed Hawkeye swears he'll never call him anything but completely rotten.

Dreadful Musician: Ironically enough, he appears to be one of these, based on his French horn playing in "The Smell of Music".

Later discussed with a patient whose civilian career was as a classical pianist, but suffered nerve damage to one of his hands in combat. Charles convinces him to continue his career, noting that he has a gift Charles could only dream of.

Also his surgical skills. He's overwhelmed by the frenzied pace of "meatball" surgery, and can't adapt readily ("I do one thing at at a time, I do it very well, and then I move on.") But when a soldier comes in needing an operation the other surgeons have barely heard of before, Winchester steps up and carries it off flawlessly.

Everyone Has Standards: He's pompous, arrogant, classist and a bit of a Social Darwinist, but he's disgusted by a bigoted major who assigns black men in his outfit to more dangerous duties. Also, he's just as desperate if not more so than everyone else to get out of Korea, but he refuses to take the opportunity to leave if it means wrecking Margaret's career in the process, and he rips up a prospective news article about him that could have gotten him transferred because the article wasn't accurate.

Family Honor: He takes a great deal of pride, not to say excessive pride, in being a Winchester. In "Bottle Fatigue" he's outraged that his sister Honoria would besmirch the family name by getting engaged to... an Italian.

First-Name Basis: He doesn't mind if his immediate subordinates call him "Charles", so long as they do not use "Charlie" or "Chuck". (Oddly enough, Hawkeye and B.J. usually respected this request.)

Happy Place: Listening to classical music is his mental escape from the war... until the finale, when tragic circumstances turn it into a reminder.

Heroic B.S.O.D.: "The Life You Save" has him suffering one of these after discovering he was nearly killed by a sniper.

And, of course, his reaction to the death of the Chinese musicians in the finale.

Hidden Depths: His love of music, yet saddened by his inability to play musical instruments. He also has a very well hidden generous side, is respectful to those who earn his respect, loyal, and can be surprisingly compassionate when he thinks nobody will notice.

Insufferable Genius: Winchester is a great surgeon... the problem is that he knows this all too well, and acts accordingly.

One Christmas Episode is the shining example — throughout the episode, everyone thinks of Winchester as a creep because when the 4077th hosted a group of Korean orphans with a potluck dinner, Winchester's contribution was a meagre tin of smoked oysters. However, Winchester had anonymously donated a large amount of chocolate to the same orphanage a day previously. Winchester argues vehemently with the orphanage owner when he finds out that the chocolate was not given to the children but instead sold to the black market. He calms down when the owner explains why he did it — the chocolate would have made the children momentarily happy, but the sale generated enough money to buy enough staple foods for the orphanage for a month.

Klinger: I'm sorry, sir. The giver of this meal wishes to remain anonymous.

He passes up the chance to get the one thing he wants most - a transfer out of the unit and back to Tokyo - because it would involve destroying Margaret's career.

Winchester: As painful as this is for me to say, I must nevertheless unequivocally state...that...[whimper] Colonel Baldwin is lying through his teeth. He offered to have me reassigned to Tokyo if I would bear false witness against Major Houlihan. [turns to Baldwin] I've groveled! I have endured your insufferable cribbage playing. I have kissed your brass. But I will not - even for a return to that pearl of the Orient Tokyo - lie to protect you while destroying a friend's career!

In another episode, he dressed down a Engineer Captain who was mercilessly making fun of a private with a severe stutter, even going so far as to threaten the captain's service record to get him to stop. Winchester then went out of his way to befriend the private to help him get over his self-consciousness.

In the episode "Sons and Bowlers", he commiserates with Hawkeye over Hawk's dad going into surgery, and is visibly overjoyed when he hears that it turned out well.

Lonely Rich Kid / Parental Neglect: Hinted at. In one episode he admits to Hawkeye that he and his father have never been that close emotionally, while in another he tells Sidney Freedman that "I had my fill of psychiatrists by the age of nine".

Charles: [to Hawkeye] My father's a good man. He always wanted the best for me. But, where I have a father... you have a dad.

Neat Freak: Although the "Pressure Points" episode has him deliberately becoming The Pig Pen as revenge against Hawkeye and B.J.'s slovenly housekeeping.

Not So Above It All: He's just as capable of pranking as Hawkeye and B.J. are. In his first appearance, he even turns the tables on them with a snake-in-the-cot prank. He even would collude with pretty much the entire camp to help teach Hawkeye a lesson in one episode.

In another, he finds himself giggling at the awful jokes a member of a visiting USO unit makes. He insists to Hawkeye (who didn't find the jokes funny at all) that they're not funny.

Hawkeye: Then why are you laughing?

Charles: [Chuckles a little more]I don't know!

Possibly his Ur-Example was pretending to help the paranoid Colonel Flagg investigate a supposed security leak at the camp...all the while setting Flagg up to embarass himself by accusing not only Colonel Potter, but the Mayor and the Chief of Police of Uijeongbu.

Charles:*chuckling*

Hawkeye: Charles, you didn't have anything to do with this, did you?

Charles: Who, me? Course not. Wouldn't dirty my hands. Unless, of course, *begins to crack up* I could get a good laugh out of it. *loses it completely*

On a subtler level, Charles complained about having to do "meatball surgery" instead of being able to take his time as he would in a stateside operating theater. Later in the series, he admonishes a younger, visiting doctor that he can't take it slow operating on patients.

Officer and a Gentleman: Sometimes the gentleman would cause the jerkass behavior; sometimes it would be used to crack the jerkass shell.

Odd Friendship: Over the character's tenure, he and Klinger went from mutual disdain to something like respect.

Old-School Chivalry: In one episode, he does not want to talk to Radar's elderly mother, angrily protesting when asked to. However, when he does so, he quickly switches to his polite, gentlemanly, and proper tone as he speaks to her.

Out-of-Character Moment: Screwing over Korean peasants by buying scrip for a tenth of its value in "Change Day". This is nothing like blue blood, old money Charles, who later anonymously donates candies to an orphanage. It feels more like something Frank or Klinger might do. In fact, it almost plays like (and may in fact have been) a leftover Frank script that had the names changed.

Smart People Know Latin: Invoked and amusingly subverted. In "Snappier Judgment", Winchester defends Klinger at a court-martial for allegedly stealing a camera. At one point during the proceedings he objects on the grounds of "unum piliolae, acidus salicilicus tres in diem, post cibum"... which, as the presiding officer points out, translates to "aspirin three times a day".

This is actually sort of justified, since this was exactly the way medical schools taught prescription dispensation for decades. It's a very legitimate and smart way of knowing some Latin, just not judicial Latin, and Charles was unfortunate enough to run into someone else who knew it.

Smart People Play Chess: Occasionally seen playing chess against himself to pass his long periods of boredom in-between heavy casualties. Played it against Hawkeye and BJ as well, usually winning without much difficulty.

Charles:[recording a taped letter for his parents] Mother and Dad, I will put this as eloquently and succinctly as possible... [stopping to pour tea, only to find B.J. has stuffed a rubber chicken into his teapot] Get me the HELL out of here!

Throughout his first season, he kind of dances around it, Depending on the Writer. Some episodes were clearly written with Frank in mind, making Charles greedy and conniving and trying to set him into the same role as Frank, making him a very slow surgeon instead of a bad surgeon and setting up a romance with Houlihan. This was quickly abandoned.

Unsportsmanlike Gloating: What got him assigned to the 4077th. His cribbage partner Colonel Baldwin was in the middle of fielding a personnel request from Potter but was interrupted by Charles pointing out there'd been an error in the math: Baldwin didn't owe Charles $672.11, he owes him $672.17.

Wine Is Classy: It was bad enough that the Korean black market crooks double crossed him and Father Mulcahy, robbed them of their goods (including the wine and gourmet food Winchester donated), their jeep, Winchester's uniform and polar suit — leaving him in only his long underwear — and refused to turn over the much-needed pentothal they came for; what really disgusted him about them was seeing them drink the red wine with stuffed capons!note Since you're obviously supposed to pair white wine with poultry.

Recurring characters

Capt. Oliver Harmon "Spearchucker" Jones

Played by: Timothy Brown

Originally introduced in the novel and movie as a ringer for an interunit football game, he vanished about midway through the show's first season, ostensibly after the network learned that there weren't any black surgeons in the theatre.

Aluminum Christmas Trees: There were, in fact, black surgeons in Korea. Jones was based on a surgeon who left a month before Richard Hooker arrived at the 8063.

Pvt. Igor Straminsky

The long-suffering messhall and kitchen staffer, who tends to cope the bulk of the camp's disgust-fuelled abuse over the lousy quality of their rations.

Camp Cook/Lethal Chef: Although technically, he merely serves the awful food rather than cooking it. (The actual cook, a Sgt. Pernelli, was mostly unseen but did appear in a few later-season episodes.)

The Ditz: He's frequently portrayed as a mild version of this. Most notably, in one episode revolving around the celebrations of a year spent in Korea, he takes the ears of corn lovingly grown by Father Mulcahy and creams them, affrontedly suggesting that next time he'll just roast them on the cob when he sees the Irish priest's angry disbelief.

Sudden Name Change: In the "Bug Out" episode he's addressed as "Sowkowitz" by Hawkeye and BJ.

Staff Sgt. Zelmo Zale

Played by: Johnny Haymer

One of the minor sergeants who were part of the 4077's staff, originating from New York. Appeared rarely, mostly notable for his bickering with Klinger and his hot temper.

On the other hand, she's been seen with Radar and a number of other guys, so it kind of fell flat, although her beef may have been because she seemed to be the only nurse that Hawkeye hadn't tried to sleep with.

Sudden Name Change: AND HOW! As an extra, she was called "Nurse Able" or "Nurse Baker", which were the placeholder names for any generic nurses in the scripts (she shared the names with the other regular background nurses, as it was apparently assigned to whichever nurse had a line in the particular episode). As her character started to expand, she was assigned differing names — one episode she was Nurse Yamato, in another, she was Nurse Nakahara, before the writers finally settled on "Kealani Kellye".

Maj. Sidney Freedman

Played by: Allan Arbus

A psychiatrist assigned to the 121st EVAC Hospital in Seoul, he frequently visits the 4077 to assist on difficult cases... and to get in on the occasional poker game.

Ambiguously Jewish: During an episode where a soldier thinks he is Jesus, this exchange takes place:

Deadpan Snarker: Not all the time, but when he's in the mood he can more than hold his own with Hawkeye and company. For instance, on being confronted with Klinger in his first appearance, he loses it a little:

"You got me up here to ask about him? About that?... All the way from Seoul, to ask me what? Whether he needs a girdle under that? Whether his seams are straight?"

Sidney: When Pierce and Hunnicutt lose one, he's out of his misery. When I lose one, I've lost a mind.

Mulcahy: When I lose one, I've lost a soul.

Guest-Star Party Member: Occasionally joins the team to assist them with healing troubled patients, including one shift in the O.R. actually performing surgery.

Hero of Another Story: He's very much like Hawkeye in terms of morals and ethics, just one from a different field of medicine and from a different unit.

Layman's Terms: Freedman states that in his personal diagnosis of Flagg, he's "spooky".

Meaningful Echo: As he's bidding farewell in the final episode, he repeats a line he'd used in Season 3's "O.R." when he first appeared. Alan Alda noted in the reunion special that he personally selected this line as Sidney's departing line because it was the one that resonated best.

"You know, I told you people something a long time ago, and it's just as pertinent today as it was then. Ladies and gentlemen, take my advice: Pull down your pants and slide on the ice."

My Nayme Is: As Hawkeye explains to Col. Flagg in one episode, Sidney's surname is spelled "with two 'E's, as in 'freedom'".

Not That Kind of Doctor: Technically, he is, although he's very hesitant to help with surgery in "O.R." when the camp is having a crisis, saying he's rusty. He's still able to help by taking the less serious cases.(Some fans have wondered about this over the years, but as a psychiatrist, Sidney actually is an M.D.; he attended medical school and would have trained at least basic surgery before deciding on a specialty. Psychologist's are the ones who have Ph.D's, not medical degrees.)

Open Heart Dentistry: In "O.R." he has to lend a hand in surgery due to the 4077 overflowing with casualties. He helps out with simpler procedures and closing patients up and notes that it's been a very long time since he actually used these skills.

Sudden Name Change: Freedman's first name is given as "Milton" in his initial appearance. (Perhaps the change was made so viewers wouldn't confuse him with the economist Milton Friedman?)

There Are No Therapists: Thanks to him, averted. Though he mentions at least once that he could use a therapist sometimes. He has his own breakdown prior to "Dear Sigmund," due to the workload and losing cases due to the strain the war was putting on his patients.

Lt. Col. (later Col.) Sam Flagg

Played by: Edward Winter

A psychopathic governmental intelligence agent (read: spy) who occasionally blows through the 4077, always on the look-out for Communist subversives and so paranoidly overzealous that the doctors took a delight in leading him headlong into disasters of his own making.

CIA Evil, FBI Good: Although he keeps it a little fuzzy who he works for in his first appearance, the writers eventually settled on him being CIA.

Iron Buttmonkey: Flagg has been known to injure himself on purpose simply to make his charade convincing. Hawkeye lampshades this in an episode while referring to a previous one, saying "If we had more guys like you, we'd have less guys like you."

Shown to a triumphant degree in one of his earliest appearances, where he wrecks the VIP Tent and himself, both on purpose to make it look like a soldier he'd let go escaped violently. It gets so absurd that at the climax of the scene, we see Flagg judging the best angle of attack before rushing headfirst into a cabinet!

Actually shown (and out of character for Flagg, played chillingly straight) in one episode, where he tries to interrogate a recovering North Korean by bending his IV line, saying "You give me what I need, and I'll give you what you need." Radar, of all people, stops him, exclaiming "You can't just go around threatening people's blood!"

In Season 4's "Quo Vadis, Captain Chandler?", Flagg encounters Sidney Freedman, telling him, "We played poker once." This further supports the theory that Flagg and Halloran are one and the same, since the latter had indeed played poker with Sidney in "Deal Me Out".

Too Kinky to Torture: Hard to tell if it's an actual fetish, but Flagg seems extremely willing to do physical violence to himself at the slightest prompting. Over the course of the show, he purposely crashed a helicopter, broke his own arm (twice!), and bashed his head into a wooden cabinet—all in the line of duty, of course. He also mentioned that he trained himself not to laugh by poking himself with a cattleprod while watching shorts from The Three Stooges. Another intelligence officer mentioned that Flagg once drove his jeep into a wall and set himself on fire.

Hawkeye: If we had more men like you, we'd have less men like you.

You Look Familiar: Edward Winter appeared in the Season 2 episode "Deal Me Out" as Captain Halloran from the CID. Since he's a spy, Captain Halloran could have easily been Flagg in disguise; it's never confirmed, but it is lampshaded in Season 4's "Quo Vadis, Captain Chandler?":

Rosie

The owner of a small bar situated just outside the 4077, she provided a refuge for many of its personnel away from the routine of the camp.

Lt. Col. Donald Penobscott

Margaret with Donald 1 and 2. Neither lasted long.

Played by: Beeson Carroll (Season 5), Mike Henry (Season 6)

An officer from a wealthy family whom Margaret meets and falls in love with whilst on leave; the relationship is so sincere that they are eventually married, something that causes Frank Burn to have a mental breakdown. Unfortunately for Major Houlihan, the Lt. Colonel is an adulterous tightass who tries to dominate her and steals her paychecks whilst sleeping around behind her back, an abuse that eventually pushes her to the extent of divorcing him.

Blue Blood: Apparently. Which doesn't stop him from being a tightfisted cheapo.

Big Ol' Unibrow: Hawkeye indicated that he had one, but it wasn't there in his two appearances (For that matter neither was the tattoo on his bicep that Margaret had mentioned.).

Financial Abuse: His system with Margaret is she sends him every paycheck and in return, he sends her an allowance of thirty dollars a week (Adjusted for inflation, equal to $263.16 up to $291.26 depending on what year of the war you're adjusting for), ostensibly so they can buy their dream house after the war's over. When there's a goof up with the pay, and Margaret appeals to him for a week's advance, he refuses to give her a penny. By the way, he and his family are supposed to be rich.

The Ghost: For nearly all of Season 5 until his appearance in "Margaret's Marriage".

Your Cheating Heart: Though it destroys Margaret when she finds out, she decides to give him another chance. She doesn't file for divorce until she finds out Donald has requested a transfer without bothering to tell her.

Capt. Calvin Spalding

A singing, guitar-playing surgeon who appears in three Season 3 episodes.

Deadpan Snarker: In "Big Mac", he sings Henry and Frank the special ditty he's composed for Gen. MacArthur's imminent visit to the 4077th, and it's a masterpiece of smart-assedry.

Well, it's not Corregidor, you know, it's only Korea It's a lousy little war, but we'd still love to see ya And I'm sure we can scrounge up a beach And you can splash in and give us a speech With your corncob pipe and your five gold stars.

Sgt. (later Pvt.) Jack Scully

A front-line infantryman who turns up a few times as a potential suitor for Margaret.

Played by: Joshua Bryant

Politically Incorrect Hero: Scully is a decent enough guy for the most part, but in his third and final appearance he's revealed to have severely retrograde (if not uncommon for The '50s) notions about gender roles, which is what finally leads Margaret to break things off with him.

Rank Up: Inverted in his third and last appearance, when he's been busted down to a private for punching an officer.

Screw This, I'm Outta Here!: In his first appearance (in "A Night at Rosie's") he's AWOL from the front line, explaining that he "decided to go away for a little rest" after an especially intense battle.

Sudden Name Change: His first name is "Jerry" in his first appearance and "Jack" in the other two.

The camp PA announcer

Voiced by: Several different actors, most frequently Todd Susman or Sal Viscuso

The Voice: Nor do we ever see him, although both Todd Susman and Sal Viscuso had onscreen appearances as different characters.

Other

Capt. Jonathan Tuttle

The non-existent "star" of a single early-series episode; Captain Jonathan Tuttle is most unique for the fact that Hawkeye and Trapper manage to make everyone believe he exists, when he never did. Extrapolated from an imaginary friend Hawkeye would use to try and get out of trouble when he was little, Capt. Tuttle was used by Hawkeye as a way to secretly milk an extra Captain's salary from the army and donate to local needy Korean civilians. When an investigation got under way, Hawkeye and Trapper had to fool the whole camp into believing he genuinely existed - and then that he had been killed off before he could actually be met face to face.

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